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August 12, 2008

This carnival came about as the result of a conversation with a close Native friend about cultural values of beauty and attractiveness, and how they differ between many Native cultures and the western mainstream. And I realized, as we talked further and swapped notes and personal histories that the entire topic struck a real nerve for me.

I had a feeling that I probably wasn't alone in that.The first discussion I remember hearing about Black women and beauty was my father holding forth very loudly on what he thought was the best color for Black women to wear, which was red. The context was a discussion with family friends about Black women in the fashion industry, particularly those modeling in Europe. Black women, particularly dark skinned Black women, were often conspicuously absent from mainstream media involving when I was growing up. So instead my family subscribed to Essence magazine, which always had Black women of a wide range of hues in it; I knew that Black folks shut out of the domestic US fashion industry had their own fashion shows showcasing Black designers; I knew that Black women were strutting around the catwalks of Paris and Milan and had been for years. In fact, in New York, there were *plenty* of Black models, like Beverly Johnson, who I never met, but everyone knew someone who claimed to know someone who knew her, she was apparently only a few degrees of separation from every Black person in the entire city. source:Racialicious